MY \'ISIT TO PASQUANEY 



141 



My Visit to Pasquaney. 



BY E. TALMER CAPK, XOAXK, CONNECTI- 

 CUT. 



Perhaps there is no one development 

 within the past years which signifies 

 greater possibilities than that of boys' 

 camps. It is because it is of such vital 

 value to the youth of coming manhood 

 that the absolute necessity of true en- 

 vironment should be demanded. 



Just as in every work in life we find 

 a running scale of quality and quan- 

 tity, so in the "camps," wdiich one be- 

 comes acquainted with is this particu- 

 larly noticeable. 



I was visiting Bridgewater, N. H. 

 about a mile from Pasquaney and about 

 eight miles from Bristol. I had gone 

 for a few weeks' stay and was occupy- 

 ing myself with sketching the beauti- 

 ful birches which grow so plentiful in 

 this belt. The very name Pasquaney 

 means the land of birches ; and the 

 charming lake snuggled so delightfully 

 in the bosom of the hills was always 

 known as Lake Pasquaney, imtil some 

 unromantic souls changed it to the or- 

 dinary name of New Found, but all 

 lovers of the Lake shall ever think of it 

 by its beautiful Indian name. 



Imagine yourself standing on the 

 side of a mountain which gradually 

 slopes to the lake's edge. Great pines 

 and birches are on ever}^ side. Here 

 is the Camp. The long cedar shingled 

 houses filled wath the necessities and 

 comforts required for camp life, simple 

 but well designed. It was not the 

 delightful, truly perfect environment 

 in which Pasqvianey Camp is situated, 

 nor the splendid outlay of every detail, 

 from the roomy sleeping quarters, or 

 the out door "sprays" where merry 

 laughter and unconscious lessons of 

 fine qualities of character building are 

 developed ; or the little hospital so 

 daintily and hygienically clean and 

 ready for emergency ; it was not the 

 long dining-rooms and outside porches ; 

 nor the beautiful chapel "under the 

 trees," great pines wdiich meet over- 

 head like a vast cathedral arch, and the 

 flickering bits of sunlight penetrating 

 the thick green needles and various 

 shades, gives one a sense of the play 

 of light from stained glass windows. A 

 lovely white birch cross standing on 

 an altar of rough stones, which are 



I)anked with ferns and wild flowers by 

 the boys during the camping season, 

 is most impressive A sense of not only 

 beauty fills one as seated on the simple 

 wooden benches, but a reverence, a 

 faith, a hope in the purest forces of life 

 penetrate ones inmost being. It is as if 

 this Chapel were truly "alive with God" 



It is not the details of the outside of 

 Camp Pasquaney, splendid as their are, 

 that impressed me as the thing which 

 was of such deep interest and import- 

 ance ; importance to all who are in any 

 way connected with education, camp 

 life, nature stud\' or youtli. 



The great fact that stands out like a 

 jewel in the sunlight is the Man at the 

 head of Camp Pasquaney — Mr. Edward 

 S. Wilson. Seldom in eoin? through life 

 do we find a character who has so many 

 qualities to help perfect his work.. It 

 is impossible to pass him by in silence. 



Edward Simpson Wilson was born 

 in New York and after the usual school 

 days entered Yale and took his Ph. B. 

 His father a Captain in the U. S. Navy, 

 desired that his son become a physi- 

 cian and so the Columbia P. & S. was 

 the natural course of events ; but after 

 a time young Wilson fotmd that re- 

 quirements of this profession did not 

 appeal to him and he decided to pitch 

 his life's tent into other quarters. 



Captain AVilson after his retirement 

 from active service had bought a large 

 tract of land bordering on Lake Pas- 

 qauney, and one day a friend asked 

 young Mr. Wilson to go to Holderness, 

 some fifteen miles away, to visit her 

 own boy who was at Dr. Talbot's Camp. 



In those days Camps for boys had 

 not developed and this one of Dr. 

 Talbot's was the first of its kind. 

 Young Mr. Wilson took the oppor- 

 tunity to go and see the Camp at Hol- 

 derness and it was during that Simimer 

 of 1893 that the deep interest in charac- 

 ter building for boys sprang like a 

 flame into his heart, and never has been 

 extinguished. 



Seldom does one find a man with the 

 talent and earnestness to make his life 

 work as complete and noble as it has 

 become in the actual results of the Di- 

 rector of Camp Pasquaney. 



There is but one thing that makes 

 for real success in Camp life and that 

 is a spiritual comprehension as the 



